Christian Thought Research Articles

Evangelical and Ecumenical? Irish Presbyterianism in the United Kingdom, 1938–47

From 1938 to 1947, a period of escalating international tensions and armed conflict, Christian intellectuals in Great Britain formed and engaged in various discussion groups, debating responses to such challenges as totalitarianism, warfare, peacekeeping, international and domestic social order, and the place of the church in society. Although neglected in the historiography of such groups, Christians in Northern Ireland engaged in similar discussions, most notably through the “Davey commission,” a group of Presbyterians under the leadership of J. Ernest Davey. By examining the work and findings of that group, this article contextualises Northern Ireland in the historiography of British Christian thinking during the Second World War. Until recently, historians of twentieth‐century Protestantism in Northern Ireland have emphasised the region's disconnectedness from Christianity in Britain and interpreted its development in terms of binary opposition between evangelicals and ecumenists. The article evaluates recent scholarship which has suggested the limits of these earlier perspectives, showing that, at least in terms of Presbyterianism, mid‐twentieth century Protestantism in Northern Ireland was indeed closely connected to British Christianity and characterised by evangelical and ecumenical co‐operation. In so doing, the article also suggests new directions for the study of Christianity in mid‐twentieth century Northern Ireland.

„ვაჟას ნაქონი ტყვია ვარ, / ჯერ თოფში გაუსროლელი“

Whether you are looking from personal or creative stand­point, Goderdzi Chokheli was a reclusive person. The inner conflict he had with life was the cause of many events for him. In one poem, he seemed to ex­plain the essence of this contradiction: “I left one world and I came to ano­ther”. This “other” was alien to him. Of course, life required adaptation, com­promise, but it could not adapt Goderdzi Chokheli to its pattern. In the constant and intense conf­lict, sometimes one won and sometimes the other. At last, G. Cho­kheli took refuge in art and turned the creative process into an arena in which he overcame soulless and godless modernity and imposed his own order on it. Here began the tragic perception of reality, of life in general, which brought on the aesthetics of Chokheli. Chokheli's relationship with the world is a model of Christian thinking – experience eternity in a transient world. With this intention, he began to compose a new emotional reality. We can divide people into two groups in his work: those filled with kindness and those defiled by cruelty. From this point of view, the writer's position is also obvious and does not require special research. His rhetorical question also sounds natural: “Why is my being enveloped by this ephemeral world, which is cloudy as fog?!”. The unstoppable process of human cruelty exposes and inten­sifies the feeling that the drama of kindness has begun, the apo­calyptic time has come. Although, Chokheli's stories take place in geographically limited area, the cry of the microcosm could be heard from Gudamakari. Chokheli's artistic thinking, his work is the revealed secret of the visible and the invisible, the reality and the fiction, the real and the mythical. That is why he is the bearer of the unshakable code of culture and tradition at the same time. Goderdzi Chokheli's characters are strange people, strange in their life and death. He depicts people with the heart of an angel who believe that honesty is the pride of a man. Faithfulness and protection of spiritual values ​​turned out to be completely incom­patible for the era of the writer. That's why he was looking for lost love and kindness, collecting sorrows to ease our sadness and pain.

Reconciliation Pedagogy as Peacebuilding through Education in the Context of Cameroon

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine Reconciliation Pedagogy as Peacebuilding through Education in the Context of Cameroon Methodology: Being a literature-based paper, there was introduction of the paper in which some concepts were defined, a review of relevant literature on Cameroonian scholarship about the ongoing crisis, review of global literature on reconciliation pedagogy, a description of the role of a Christian teacher as a reconciliation pedagogue, and a proposed reconciliation pedagogical framework from a Christian perspective. Findings: The Christian Teacher can positively provide good influence to help address the current Anglophone crisis in Cameroon through pedagogy for contextual reconciliation. This would be seen in actual ethical paradigms like forgiveness, compassionate care, honesty, love, justice and equity as Christian virtues of being and doing, which is a potential gap in teachers’ practice in a crisis situation. Hence, the paper seeks to provide a new paradigmatic shift in ethical discernment in teaching pupils/students who are the immediate beneficiaries of reconciliation pedagogy and the society at large. The focus is not on inculcating ideas but in shaping life through teaching and modeling of Christian virtues that would be constructive to the development of students and the society in general. This would be an integrative approach of historical, ethical, spiritual and practical principles and Christian thinking and doing. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The paper suggests a contextual pedagogy for the Christian Teacher’s practice which is a form of summary of the roles they can play as reflective pedagogues. Hence, this paper sought to suggest reconciliation pedagogy from a Christian perspective for the Cameroonian context which is a characterized with human abuse and which both teachers and learners are victims. It is hoped that the suggested framework guides the Christian Teacher’s practice towards the reconstruction of the society as a step in the process of reconciliation in view of the current Anglophone crisis in Cameroon.

Overview of the International Scientific Conference “Man and the Church in the Christian Thought of Nicholas Berdyaev” (Moscow, March 5–6, 2024)

Overview of the International Scientific Conference “Man and the Church in the Christian Thought of Nicholas Berdyaev” (Moscow, March 5–6, 2024)

The Christian interpretations on the nature of heaven’s mandate in late Ming and early Qing dynasties

This paper aims to examine in detail the Christian interpretations on the Confucian concept of the nature of the heaven’s mandate [天命之性] during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties from historical and textual perspective. Neo-Confucians of the Song Dynasty interpret the nature of the heaven’s mandate as human nature, believing that heaven endowed humans with reason, known as the heavenly principle [天理]. In the late Ming period, Christian missionaries such as Jesuits in China used Confucian classics to convey Christian thoughts, interpreting the heaven’s mandate as God’s mandate and the nature of the heaven’s mandate as the spirituality bestowed by God, which is equated with the soul. They also used the nature of the heaven’s mandate as a criterion for determining the authenticity of a teaching (religion[教]), asserting that Christianity is the true teaching (religion). Thus, Christianity in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties provides a new interpretation on the nature of the heaven’s mandate and promotes the integration of Christian and Confucian thoughts through this interpretation.Contribution: The paper provides a detailed review of the history of Christian interpretations on the nature of the heaven’s mandate during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Currently, there is limited scholarly research on the theological thoughts of Christianity during this period. This study not only enhances the understanding of the new interpretations by Christianity but also aids in comprehending the theological ideas of Christianity during the late Ming and early Qing periods. By reinterpreting Confucian classics, Christianity endowed them with new meanings, offering valuable references for the localisation of Christian theology and the study of cross-cultural exchange.

Of Birds and Breastfeeding: Augustine and Feminist Concerns about Kenosis

AbstractThe doctrine of kenosis has kept a low profile in studies of the early church. Yet the biblical idea that Christ “emptied himself” was taken up not only by proponents of kenoticism in the nineteenth century, but also—inevitably—by early Christian thinkers as they interpreted Philippians 2:5‐11, a crucial passage about the identity and spirit of Jesus Christ. Augustine, for example, references kenosis repeatedly across his writings. The notion of kenosis has also been a tenacious thread in the tapestry of feminist theological reflections over the last twenty years. This article weaves these strands together, arguing that three emphases of Augustine's account help to address concerns that feminist theologians have raised: his explication of kenosis as utterly unique and only analogically imitable; his description of kenosis as always additive; and his characterization of kenosis as an irresolvable paradox. This essay develops Augustine's emphases in conversation with recent feminist scholarship—drawing, along the way, on his surprising appeal to the behavior of mother birds and maternal breastfeeding—to suggest some new vantage points for appreciating how the Christian doctrine of kenosis can promote flourishing, for the subject as well as the object of self‐giving love.

Refusing Change Invites Failure: The Most Stubborn Figures in Biblical History and Their Implications for Contemporary Christian Thought and Practice

Refusing Change Invites Failure: The Most Stubborn Figures in Biblical History and Their Implications for Contemporary Christian Thought and Practice

신이 아닌 부동의 제일원동자에 관한 성찰: 토마스 아퀴나스의 입장

This paper explores Thomas Aquinas's perspective on the prime mover of celestial spheres. In Latin medieval cosmology, all movements in the natural world are reduced to the rotational motion of celestial bodies. In traditional Aristotelian natural philosophy, the prime mover of celestial bodies is regarded as God-substance that thinks itself. However, Christian theologians also acknowledge the existence of immaterial angels besides both God and the material world. Ancient Christian thinkers attributed the cause of movement of celestial bodies to angels. Thomas synthesizes the positions of theological authorities, Aristotelian natural philosophy, and the universal principles of causality outlined in the Arabic “Book of Causes” to deduce the various substantial attributes of the prime mover of celestial bodies. The cause of all motions must be a self-moving principle, meaning it must possess a soul in the sense of the principle of life. However, the celestial soul exists as pure intellectual activity without sense-perception. If the soul of celestial bodies were characterized solely by its intellectual nature, it would not be distinguishable from another intellectual being, i.e. angels. They are distinguished only by the relative distance of participation in the First Cause, or in other words, by the difference in the grade of perfection of existence. Thomas acknowledges that the celestial soul is substantially similar to the lower angels confessed in Christianity but he doesn't argue for the complete exclusion of the term “soul.” Perhaps he wanted to preserve the concept of the soul as a purely philosophical concept corresponding with angels.

Syriac schools and the Influences of Christian Thought

شكّلت اللغة السريانية الحلقة الرابطة التي سمحت للشرقين الأدنى والأوسط، بامتلاك منجزات العلم اليوناني، حيث استطاع هذا العلم أن يبلغ في مرحلة معينة تطوراً إبداعياً جديداً على أرضية عربية وفارسية. ففي عهد السلوقيين، أصبحت إنطاكية منطقة تلاق وتبادل الثقافات بعد أن أدخلت العناصر الإغريقية في الوسط الثقافي السرياني، مما جعل من إنطاكية منافسة للإسكندرية، نتيجة لما وصلت إليها من تقدم في المستوى التعليمي. أنشأت المدارس عند السريان بشكل فعّال، منذ دخولهم في المسيحية، فانتشرت في بيئتهم انتشاراً كبيراً جعلتهم في طليعة شعوب الشرق ثقافة وبلاغة، فضلاً عن ما أنجبته تلك المدارس من العلماء والأعلام والمؤلفين، الذين ذاعت شهرتهم شرقاً وغرباً. الانتشار الواسع للثقافة السريانية، كان مرتبط بتاريخ مدن ما بين النهرين، التي تشغل مدينتا الرها ونصيبين المكانة الأكثر ريادة وطليعية بينها، سواء كمواقع اقتصادية ومنشآت حرفية، أو كمراكز تجارية وتعليمية على مستويات رفيعة من الدقة والتعليم. أهمية البحث: تكمن أهمية البحث في التركيز على الدور المهم لنشأة المدراس السريانية، والوقوف على أهم المدارس، وتأثير الفكر المسيحي لتلك المدارس في ضوء الإجابة على التساؤلات الآتية: ما الدور المهم للمدارس السريانية؟ ما الفائدة التي قدمها التعليم في المدارس السريانية؟ وهل كان للرهبان الدور المهم في نشأة المدارس السريانية؟ في ضوء ذلك قسم البحث إلى ثلاث محاور: خصص المحور الأول: على نشأة المدارس السريانية وتاريخها، والتعليم في المدارس السريانية، في حين تناول المحور الثاني: الرها ومدرستها، وتأثيرات الفكر المسيحي، أما المحور الثالث: فقد كان عن أبرز أساتذة مدرسة الرها وعلومها. فضلاً عن ذلك، اعتمد البحث على عدد من المصادر العربية والمترجمة، والتي يمكن الاطلاع عليها في قائمة المصادر والمراجع، ويأتي في مقدمتها كتاب لـ(نينا بيغو ليفسكيا: ثقافة السريان في القرون الوسطى، ترجمة: خلف الجراد).

The Orchestration of a flagrant crime or the crime of an orchestrated flagrant abuse? Manager Sandu Tudor’s journey through the meanders of public stigmatisation

Our research focus on a unique episode in the biography of the journalist, poet and Christian thinker Sandu Tudor. I have explored the multiple damages he suffered, both during the blackmail process initiated by the businessman Ion Tatos, manager of the Central Import and Export Cooperatives, against Credința, the newspaper under Sandu Tudor’s management, and after this controversial event. A critical analysis of the reception of Sandu Tudor's activity, especially in the press, proves, unfortunately, the preservation of the deconstructive and destructive potential, the director of Credința newspaper being carried to this day through the meanders of public stigmatisation. Not a few are the confusions crept into the reconstruction of this far-reaching scandal, which shook the publishing arena of interwar Romania from the fourth decade, most of the time the blackmail process being indistinguishable from the slander process filed by several prominent members of the “Criterion” Association (Mircea Vulcănescu, Alexandru Christian Tell, Petru Comarnescu, Gabriel Negreanu) against the same daily newspaper – Credința [Faith]. The resources of our work corroborated the information provided by primary sources - volume 2 of file 013495, Criminal fund, from the CNSAS Archive, file 160/1935, fund “Documents of some personalities. The press. 1880-1948”, from the Central National Historical Archives (CNHA) - with those from the memorial literature and, respectively, from the articles published on account of the sensational subject of a crime that polarised the interwar journalistic world into antagonistic parties.

Catholic Ethics of War: On the Plausibility of Christian Pacifism

This article proposes three responses to the anti-war statements made recently by Pope Francis. The first one recapitulates the very foundations of the prevalent legal and ethical approaches to the issue of war—laid by the most influential Christian thinkers of all times, revisited on several occasions by their followers, and ultimately confirmed in the fairly recent documents articulating Catholic war ethics. The second discusses the specific mode of Francis's apparent repudiation of the doctrine of just war, implying the essential equalisation of the moral status of either warring party—even in the case of conflicts initiated and sustained by undeniable and unprovoked acts of aggression. The third examines the reasonableness and moral soundness of the Pope's implied belief in the impermissibility of an attacked political community's (unintendedly) exposing its members to the enemy's violence without having a substantiated prospect of (relatively swift) military success of its defensive undertaking.

Darwin’s Detractors: A Reassessment of Responses to Natural Selection in German Science and Theology

ABSTRACT This article focuses on responses to Darwinism among German scientists and theologians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Christian thinkers foregrounded in this study all commented at length on Darwinism and critically examined theories of natural selection. In doing so, they did not resort to what we now label “fundamentalist tropes,” or, as I call them, “anti-modernist tropes.” Rather, they were willing to accept empirical evidence and thought in broad religious and philosophical terms about evolution’s mechanisms. The arguments that these scholars offered against materialists’ employment of Darwin’s ideas fit within the broader “revolt against positivism.”

Interdependency and Change: God in the Chinese Theology of Xie Fuya (1892–1991)

Xie Fuya (1892–1991), a major Chinese Christian thinker, has contributed much to the development of Sino-theology. However, his work has yet to receive the recognition it deserves. As a thinker who is well-versed in both Chinese and Western philosophies while dedicating himself to the exploration of the philosophy of religion, Xie presents a dual feature in his writings. On the one hand, his work engages in a dialogical discourse between Eastern and Western philosophies. On the other hand, his writings represent an ambitious attempt to interpret traditional Chinese philosophical tenets within the context of Christian theology, transverse from the level of human nature to the level of ontological existence, representing an innovative model of contemplation in the field of Sino-theology. This contribution is of immense value to the development of Chinese philosophical thought. For this reason, this article attempts to illustrate, through Xie’s writings in various stages of his life, his relentless effort to promote the integration of Eastern and Western philosophies within the framework of Chinese thought. His most notable accomplishment in this East–West confluence effort is his unique assumption of God’s attributions as both zhonghe (literally “middle harmony”, connoted as interdependency by Xie) and bianyi (change).

SINNERS AS BEASTS: SOME EARLY PATRISTIC VIEWS OF ANIMALS IN ECCLESIASTES

This essay constitutes an initial attempt to decipher early patristic views on animals by critically examining the responses of five eminent early Christian thinkers to the manbeast references contained in Ecclesiastes 3: 18-21: Thaumaturgus (213 – 270 AD), Didymus the Blind (313 – 398 AD), Chrysostom (347 – 407 AD), Jerome (347 – 420 AD), and Augustine (354 – 430 AD). Salient patterns of interpretation are identified and discussed in comparative terms contrasting ancient Hebraic and conventional biblical views with early patristic views as needed. Overall, the general finding here is that most of these early Christian thinkers (save Augustine) were heavily inclined not to interpret these verses contextually nor in Qoheleth’s own terms nor within the range of ancient Hebraic theology and cosmology.

STOICISME DALAM TEOLOGI SAKRAMEN SANTO AGUSTINUS

Saint Augustine is tradionally known as a Christian thinker strongly influenced by Platonic tradition. His reflection on sacrament has strongly been considered as a Christian-Platonic achievement in theology. This work begs to differ on this point. It will analyse his sacramental theology and argue for a trace of Stoic tradition in his comprehension of the sacrament, instead of Platonic or Neoplatonic tradition. An analysis of his interest in language and rhetoric (i.e. his philosophy of language), the notions used, the logic applied could indicate a strong influence of Stoicism. His comprehension of the term ‘sign’ gives a hint of knowledge of or acquintance with the Stoic tradition. Given the importance of the notion ‘sign’ in his theology, his reflection on sacrament cannot be the other way round.

Ballistics, Darwinism and Christian Thought

This paper raises an open critical discussion on some key notions in Michael Ruse’s philosophy. These include the conceptual elements of scientific explanation, the difference between epistemic and cultural values, the epistemological status of science and religion in explaining nature, the compatibility or incompatibility between Darwinian thought and Christian thought, and especially between evolutionary theory and creationism, the key importance of admitting or not admitting supernatural causality when qualifying an explanation as scientific, the role played by the divinity in the argumentation about the compatibility or incompatibility between science and religion, the convenience of not understanding the Abrahamic god from an ontological perspective but from a psychological one, etc. It ends by proposing certain conclusions that could perhaps contribute to contrast and enrich his philosophy.

«Муза встала рядом со мной» (об источнике творчества от Гомера до Канта)

The article explores the question of how the ideas about the source of creativity were been changing among European thinkers. In the classical period in Ancient Greece the idea prevailed, coming from Homer, Hesiod and Pindar, that poets derive the content and form of poetic works from Muses, who give them the opportunity to create at their will. At the same time, a common place was the idea that poets do not always bring the truth to the world. Plato, analyzing the work of poets, speaks of two sources – pleasure and inspiration, but only the gods choose when the poet speaks on their behalf. He also clarified the content of poetry by relating it to the different Muses. Aristotle moves away from an external source, placing the source of creativity in the creator of the work, who obtains special abilities, and Aristotle calls imitation (mimesis) the main mode of creativity. Yet at the same time he takes imitation as not limited by visible reality, since the poet speaks of what could have happened, not of what actually has happened. Christian thinkers, from apologists to scholastics and mystics, agree that God is the source of creativity. But their views differ considerably in the details. Thus, for instance, in Thomas Aquinas works we find a peculiar synthesis of the Aristotelian concept of mimesis and Plato’s breakthrough to the divine. The Renaissance desacralization of the world ultimately leads to an exclusively rational conception of association, which allows us to explain the emergence of the new only as the creation of wrong associations. Kant, turning to the theme of genius, finds himself in a difficult situation between two positions: on the one hand, he cannot accept the traditional idea of divine inspiration, on the other hand, the purely empirical idea of association built on tabula rasa material. He had to find some third way. He finds it in the a priori given principle of the ability to think the particular as subordinate to the general, which manifests itself in two aspects – as determining and as reflective. The poet has an idea of some goal and some indeterminate idea of the material and, guided by his genius and not limited by any rules, freely expresses aesthetic ideas.

Christian Neoplatonism and Deep Incarnation: Nicholas of Cusa and Giordano Bruno as Inspirations for Contemporary Ecotheology

In response to the specter of looming anthropogenic ecological catastrophe, many Christian thinkers have begun to rethink the God/world relationship and reimagine the ontic cleavage between divinity and creation. The idea of “deep incarnation”, which expands the scope of divine incarnation in an attempt to draw God and creation into closer relation, is a prevalent framework for such reimagination. Two historic, underutilized thinkers that might help deep incarnation theologians expand their own theologies and make sense of the conceptual and ethical differences among them are Neo-Platonist philosopher–theologians Nicholas of Cusa and Giordano Bruno. Working within an ecofeminist framework, this article argues that while both Cusanus and Bruno provide significant philosophical grounds for contemporary ecotheologies of deep incarnation, a Brunist perspective is preferable because of its more expansive anthropology and its more inclusive understanding of divinity.

Tradition as ‘Formative Environment’: Congar and Christian Formation

AbstractAlthough the theology of Tradition of the Dominican Yves Congar was highly influential in drafting the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum at the Second Vatican Council, postconciliar debates neglected some of the most original aspects of this theology. This article proposes a retrieval of the notion of Tradition as ‘milieu éducatif’, advanced by the theologian in Tradition and Traditions, as a valuable resource for contemporary discussions on Christian formation. It intends to highlight how Congar connected the theological realities of revelation and its transmission by the Church with the concrete practice of Christian life. This notion is, then, put in conversation with contemporary Christian thinkers who have reflected on the practical aspects of Christian formation, chiefly James K.A. Smith. This dialogue aims to show the relevance of Congar’s notion to current discussions. While the theology of Tradition exposed by the French Dominican can be completed and specified by current proposals, it can also offer a new theological depth to those proposals.

Acquired Justice and Infused Justice according to Leonardo Polo

This paper discusses the conception of Justice, both acquired and infused, in Leonardo Polo’s thought, in comparison with Aquinas’ view. It is widely assumed in Christian Thought that through the will effort, one acquires the virtue of justice, while infused justice comes from God’s grace. Acquired justice is a virtue of the will, and God’s infused justice is also received in the will. Inspired in Thomist systematization, Polo distinguishes justice’s integral elements, its subjective types, and its potential elements. The integral elements are two: to give each one her due when he lacks it, and not to take away one’s belongings, its subjective types are the commutative, legal, and distributive justice. Finally, justice potential elements have to do when one cannot pay what one owes, or when one is not obliged to satisfy the other’s right. We shall also see how infused justice improves each of these parts of acquired justice. In contrast with Aquinas, from Leonardo Polo’s anthropology the virtue of justice is superior to the virtue of prudence.